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Wednesday, August 10, 2011

It was starting to look like Bobby Abreu had completely given up on hitting. Going into last night's game, Abreu had posted a .155/.263/.233 line since the beginning of July with five extra base hits and 15 hitless games, earning the Brandon Wood nod of approval. But then on Tuesday night, if only briefly, Abreu knocked some of the rust of for an important game against his former team and wild card leading New York Yankees.

Abreu went 2-5 with two home runs (and two strikeouts but I'm trying to be nice here) to power the Angels to a 6-4 win over the Yankees. He hit his fifth home run of the season in the sixth inning off of A.J. Burnett and then hit his sixth homer, more impressively, in the ninth inning against Mariano Rivera. It was the first game in August that Abreu posted a positive WPA (win probability added).

I'm by no means suggesting Abreu is turning some kind of corner here because he still looks cooked. The .103 ISO (isolated power) is the lowest of his career and, unsurprisingly, he's on pace for career lows in doubles and home runs. And since he has the mobility of a light pole in the outfield, Abreu is a fixture at DH providing negative lineup flexibility. His $9 million 2012 option has already vested but that's future me's problem to complain about. In the meantime, Angels fans will just have to hope Abreu manages to sprinkle a few games like yesterday in with his 0-fers.